Best/Cheapest place to buy First Aid supplies

New Member

Does anyone know of a good medical supply house either locally in the Portland Metro area or online that has the best prices for first aid supplies? I'm starting to compile a first aid/basic life support kit, so I'll be looking for things like bandages, SAM splints, tourniquets, airway adjuncts, CPR masks of different sizes, BVM, etc etc etc.

I figured this would be better than just buying some kit online. Any feedback is appreciated! And I don't mind shopping at different places, either. Thanks!

Well-Known Member

tuality healthcare supply, its attached to the hospital, beaverton pharmacy, or pretty much any other pharmacy outside of a grocery store or fredmeyers. they tend to have a very large variety of items to choose from. if your not a trained medical professional already, i would suggest you get a pre-made first aid kit and do a bit of research for other items. it would be especially important to know how to properly apply an ace bandage, how to properly use a tourniquet (which can cause death if you do it wrong), sterile procedures (which require quite a bit of practice), sutures and knowing what sort of meds are appropriate to use in the different situations.

if you dont know how to use the medical supplies properly, you may be better off not having them.

also if youre prepping for emergencies, having some scrubs could make for excellent cloths to have in a bag for quick travel, light weight, very compact-able and extremely easy to clean.

Active Member

If you have nothing or very little, maybe start with a pre-made kit then fill in the gaps as you find bargains.
Most important thing is training, practice and review. Once you understand some basic concepts of pre-hospital life support, you will find that many items are useful in multiple situations and some items are completely useless.

One way to get experience is a ride along with your local EMTs. Watch what and how they organize and use their gear.
Another is a basic Red Cross first aid/responder classes, these are sometimes free
Medical reserve corps, part of the dreaded DHS, but can get you some great free training and a "backstage pass" in the event of a disaster.

Not saying this is you (OP), but one thing I see time and time again in the preparations of the "prepper" is too much focus on stuff and not enough on skills.

Silver SupporterSilver Supporter

Go to shopmedvets.com, they offer an amazing array of products. Instruments in a number of grades and price range, chemicals to sterilize any surface, gowns masks and other emergency or surgical room supplies, dressings, sutures just anything! They will sell anything but drugs to laymen. Completely agree on getting at least some training and also books on first aid etc. Since this post is about a veterinary supply house don't forget a book and gear for dog care. I use "Dog Owners Home Veterinary Handbook" by Carlson and Griffin. Out of print but available. Don't bother with the Red Cross's pet first aid book, it will tell you to take your pet to the vet.

New Member

Thanks for all the advice. I definitely appreciate it. But you don't have to worry about me when it comes to qualification. As Brian Mills said in the movie Taken, "I have a very particular set of skills..." I figured it was time to build my own personal kit. I just needed advice on best place to pick up supplies, other than through work.

Well-Known Member

My wife and I recently started stocking up on the basics. Our secret if you can call it that. I frugallivingnw. Com. The rite aid deals were awesome. It takes a little work finding coupon, but I would estimate we have bought $200 worth of basic band aid , gauze, neosporen, seri-pads, tape, and others(Walmart prices), but we only paid around $30 total. We also picked up some nice sewing sizzers from Costco, 3 pack fro $10 , better than the cheap flimsy emt cutters you can get from most places.

Active Member

I have prepped all med stuff ... but one very overlooked cheap medical supply is tape and feminine napkins.
I use Chitosan with them to make the poor mans "Quick Clot" bandages.
Sanitary and superior blood absorption and clotting properties. (Dollar Store for the Fempads, ForestRX for Chitosan.)

$70 will get you the equivalent of $1000 worth of Quick Clot type bandages. Pads are a needed item and retain value ... and if our county continues to stay fat and sassy ... Chitosan is a weightloss product as well.

I recommend Ascorbic acid or Acerola Juice powder to mix with the Chitosan ... the latter having better healing and antiseptic properties.

Jerk, Ammo Manufacturer

For basic first aid stuff, I highly recommend checking out the local dollar stores, these places regularly stock the big box of gauze rollers, 5 for 99c, bandaids... get the fabric ones 99c, the alcohol they stock is usually only 50% and not worth much, but they usually carry 3% peroxide (sometimes higher), muscle rub, name brand handlotions, 4x4s, sports bandages etc. I've even found EMT sheers, coldpacks, neosporin (not expired woo!), and many other "must have" medications that I won't buy from a dollar store (need to know certain things are going to work, even if I'm buying the walmart brand).

As far as NP and OP airway, I've never found those anywhere but specific medical supply stores, I think I ordered mine from the giant catalog o-stuff the EMS company I worked a short time for got all their stuff. (don't remember name).

I didn't see BVM's, but I did see nasal cannula and non rebreather masks (unknown if you have an oxygen tank/system) which can be useful if they are breathing for themselves.

I might also recommend, if you've got the money for it, getting a pulse-oximeter. These things have gotten cheap over the last few years (used to be >$1000) and now can be had for <$100. It can be a handy addition when dealing with respiratory and allergic problems.

Since I havn't seen it already on this thread, if you're going to get serious enough about medical supplies to have any kind of stockpile, take an EMT-B class at your local community college. It is a serious commitment in time, but a very low commitment in money. Even if you fail the class, hopefully you will at least learn enough along the way to get your money's worth. (these classes have a very high washout rate, usually only about 1/3 of the class passes, and barely 1/2 complete)

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

found some decent looking med kits on the groundzero website. may be worth looking at. they come already packed in a back pack and have a range of options, some are pretty extensive and some are cheap and to the point.

Well-Known Member

just noticed this post, and again stop telling people to use sub par meds, these are not held to the standards of drugs made for human consumption. ask your Dr for ABX do not use animal meds. most importantly stop recommending it to people.

Jerk, Ammo Manufacturer

just noticed this post, and again stop telling people to use sub par meds, these are not held to the standards of drugs made for human consumption. ask your Dr for ABX do not use animal meds. most importantly stop recommending it to people.

this is a serious risk to your health.

Click to expand...

<sarcasm>What? Have you never heard about all the health benefits from colloidal silver!?</sarcasm>

One of the biggest problems I see is people who want antibiotics and obtain them from all kinds of goofy sources, they have no idea what the dosages are, when to take them, what they are effective against.

The real problem is doxycycline is a tetracycline group antibiotic which can become deadly poisonous if consumed after expiration.

You need to know a lot more about the disease before you start recommending treatments, depending on the character and class of the wound/infection, mechanical debridement would likely have fewer complications if done incorrectly than the damage done by an antibiotic that's used in low concentrations, high concentrations, not given for long enough etc. These problems can either cause toxicity in the patient, or resistance of the bacteria to that specific antibiotic. This is the reason why we have MRSA, drug resistant tuberculosis and all kinds of other nasty civilization ending superbugs.

PPL Say Sleeping W/Your Rifle Is A bad Thing?

While true in many reguards it is also true that PPL will always look for a way around Govt imposed prohibitions. Look to the places in the world where Natural and Shaministic medicine is prevelant, not just Africa and PPNG but Finland and Russia. Why? Because medicine is a State Monopoly, and if the State does not like you the Doctors drop a dime on you.
Personaly I have no problem using topical Sulfa, The MDRS are found in health care and deep urban settings, not someplace I would hangout by choice, MDRS did not arise out of some woodsman's mis-use of ABs it arose out of Doctor's over/under/mis-prescribing, Doctors,,,Doctors

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